


A New World Falls Down

by oldmarycontrary (missmarycontrary)



Category: Labyrinth (1986)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-10
Updated: 2014-04-10
Packaged: 2018-01-18 21:05:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1442842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missmarycontrary/pseuds/oldmarycontrary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Moved from ff.net - The idea for this story came to me while listening to a Jane's Addiction Song called 'I'm Not An Addict' and then 'As the World Falls Down' straight after, and I just had to write it. Addictions come in all shapes and sizes; Jareth's is still Sarah Williams, but is he still hers? A slightly sadder version of Jareth to the norm, but variety is a good thing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Originally written in 2008 (wow) and just moved over from ff.net. Teenage me was angsty, it seems...

 

* * *

 

Jareth gazed through the crystal ball at a smiling Sarah; watching as she weaved through a crowd of heaving strangers, her hands clasped around a glass of wine. He'd come to sit on his throne on this particularly boring afternoon in the Labyrinth, and had, with a sinking feeling in his stomach, turned to a habit that had often threatened to overwhelm him: watching Sarah.

He was alone, as usual nowadays. His sigh echoed off the stone walls of his throne room as he willed the crystal larger, and watched the woman inside. Sometimes he barely recognised her. He'd watched her change before his eyes into a different girl, a different woman. But still he felt that damned pulling in his chest when their gazes connected. She had no idea she was staring right at him, but sometimes she would turn to face him and it felt like she knew, that cutting glance that saw right through him in an instant. But of course she didn't see him, couldn't; she was staring at someone else, through something that wasn't even there. He willed his viewing orb larger again as he slumped into his throne.

She wasn't the only one who had changed. Perhaps to the same extent Jareth had changed too; crippled emotionally by that girl who'd turned his world upside down. His subjects now accepted that their King could only be snapped out of his stupor very occasionally, just often enough to keep his realm functioning. The powerful authoritarian that had ruled was distracted now; always found staring through his orbs at the only thing he could never have.

Of course he'd stop looking sometimes, or he made himself stop out of guilt. He'd often accidentally summoned an image of her when she was changing and had forced it away within milliseconds; the bubble popping before his eyes as quickly as it had formed. And sometimes she was with a man… he'd watch as they walked through parks together, full of spite for the men unworthy of this creature more magical than anything in his Kingdom; then he'd force the image away as the man took her in his arms.

He remembered the shock he felt when he returned to watch her through the crystal one evening and found her kissing a teenage boy, mere months after their encounter in the Labyrinth. He was full of guilt to think of her that way, at least until she was older; but she was always so mature. And he'd watched in horror, realising its true meaning, as she gleefully cleared her toys away a few months later, saving space only for a few dolls; a little fox in armour, a woolly dog and a toy goblin, placed by her mirror. But she had saved one little red book, and his heart had leapt. Maybe there was a chance that this was not her leaving him, forgetting him! He'd watched too, with obvious glee, as Sarah and the boy spent an evening screaming at each other; it took so much power to be able to hear them that he could only do it on very rare occasions, but he'd done it then. He'd actually clapped as she forced him out of the house, but his joy was sullied by the tears that ran from her beautiful eyes for days.

And now he watched her force her way through the crowd. It pulled back memories of Sarah's actions in the Labyrinth, and he felt his heart leap once more. Finally, a chance. For her to come back! He made up his mind; it has been 6 years in the making, and now it was time for him to see her again. He watched for a few more seconds, wondering at the coincidental similarities in awe, before the bubble burst, and he was gone in an explosion of shimmering dust.


	2. Chapter 2

The music pumped in Sarah's ears; a thudding beat from a Jane's Addiction song that almost drowned out the scrambled shouts of her friends. She was at a house party with about 50 of her college classmates; she'd been to wilder gatherings, but it was still only a few hours in. Who knows what might happen.

She worked her way through the dancers in the corridors and into the living room, clutching her glass of wine to her chest to prevent tipping it all over someone. There were glass windows and mirrors everywhere, making it look like there was even more people than there were, and sending out glittering rays of light, spilling it from the lamps dotted around the room into the darkness like pools of water.

She was about to put her glass down on the snacks table when a girl was lifted onto it in front if her. She watched amused as the girl, who has been engaged in a shots contest with several men all evening, slid her sweater over her head and whirled it in the air. Immediately there was a chorus of cheers from the people in the room, women included. Hey, that's how it was here. Love the one you're with.

Sarah giggled as she wondered how her life had led her to this. She remembered back to that experience her memory was always drawn to at the most inopportune times; the Labyrinth. Her return from it to be precise; trying desperately to find something as amazing an experience. How it had boosted her confidence so that she wasn't embarrassed to talk to those people who had invited her out; the people whose invites she's denied, too busy acting out her fantasy life. How when she'd gone back to school she'd forced herself to accept that date she'd been offered, desperate to distract herself from the dreams and nightmares that haunted her every night. Her first boyfriend, of course… losing her virginity! Being invited to her first major party, getting drunk for the first time, loving how everyone became as confident as she now was when they were under the influence. loving that it was frowned upon, but knowing she had control over herself no matter how drunk she was.

Her first dalliance with drugs… maybe she could blame the Labyrinth for that too. Desperate to find something so magical, a high as amazing as that make-believe world, she'd been driven to find another.

She knew it was stupid, that her mother had raised her better. But it was freedom. It was her youth, and she would be able to look back and say she'd done everything. She'd had fun. In the long-term, it was a fools game, and she knew it; but she wasn't planning for the long-term. The Labyrinth had taught her that sometimes you had to live in the here-and-now, a philosophy she'd followed ever since. The freedom had kept the Labyrinth alive in her heart. She knew as soon as that died, her links to the place would be gone. No more denying to Hoggle that she was doing anything she couldn't control, genuinely trying to calm Sir Didymus as he asked her what she'd been doing lately. No more enjoying the random visits of her magical friends.

She forced herself back to the present, gulping down the wine with a cough. She turned to join the dancers and felt something being pushed into her hand; her head snapped round and grinned at the handsome young man smiling back at her. He stroked her lip and, with a look of sadness, wandered away; she stopped herself following him and looked at what was in her hand. A little tablet with an E scratched on its surface; she looked at it quickly and put it in her mouth, swallowing it with a familiar fluttering sensation in her stomach.

She pushed herself back through the crowd, watching as people admired her outfit. She wore something much less revealing then usual; skinny jeans, with a silky white top with long flowing sleeves. A silver pendant hung from her neck. She didn't really know these people; she knew names but not the personalities, and for a moment she felt out of place among the completely drunk but strangely graceful creatures that danced around her. Another song had begun to play; a slower, synthetic pop type song that had everyone moving their bodies in unison, hands grasping at the bodies around them. She paused halfway through the crowd, staring through the modern glass doors that separated the living room from the kitchen; she had to listen to the tune, which seemed so beautiful. What was it?

' _There's such a fooled heart,_

_beating so fast,_

_in search of new dreams,_

_a love that will last within your heart,_

_I'll place the moon within your heart.'_

She stumbled backwards into the crowd. 'Oh God,' she muttered under her breath, people's passive eyes turning to stare at her. 'What is this?' She turned to grab at the shirt of the nearest person, gesturing with her free hand at the speaker system. 'Just a song, babe.' came the reply in a gruff male tone, before he moved away. She turned back to the glass doors on the other side of the room, but there was no longer a kitchen behind it; instead there was a different world. Another full of glass and mirrors, but somehow more magnificent, and stood behind the glass doors that separated her from the Underground was the tall figure of a man; a man she'd nearly forgotten.

His face was tilted and twisted in anguish as she forced her way through the crowd, pushing bemused dancers aside to get to the glass doors that separated the two. She was full of disbelief but she was forced to accept it as she drew nearer; as she did so, she noticed the reflections of her friends in the glass of the door. It was the same people, in the same places, but in beautiful costume and waltzing gracefully. She gasped and turned back, but her world remained the same, and apparently nobody could see what she could. As her body slammed against the door in her desperation to discover whether it was real, she saw the Goblin King recoil and take a step back. She yanked at the door, and as she stumbled through she felt the light headed feeling that signalled her return to a fantasy world.


	3. Chapter 3

Jareth's blood surged as Sarah stepped into the world he'd recreated for her. He felt it like a physical blow; her clothes so familiar to what she'd worn 6 years ago.

'Hello.' She whispered, barely breathing, taking in her surroundings. There were her friends, waltzing around her, but it seemed like there was nobody else between her and Jareth at all. She turned to stroke the glass of the wall. 'What do you want?'

'I.. I…' stumbled Jareth in reply. He'd planned this for so long, but at that moment he had no idea what to say. His mind had been so preoccupied with recreations of their adventure, it had failed to plan for new ones. He reached out towards her, the dancers separating to allow him through as he stepped closer, closing the short gap between them. 'I… I want you, Sarah.'

'Ha!' It was an abrupt, harsh sound, that hit him like a slap to the face. 'No you don't.'

She glared at him, pupils blown wide, her stare no longer questioning but something else, something like pity and anger. She seemed to think for a moment before she spoke, as he tried to maintain a regal remoteness. 'I think you're making a dreadful mistake here, Jareth. It was a mistake to bring me back here.'

He marvelled at the beauty of her face close up. There were new angles there that hadn't been there 6 years ago, highlighting her beautiful eyes. She was an almost ethereal creature, he thought.

'I didn't force you through that door. You're the one who stepped through.'

'Did I? How do I know that was my choice? You've fooled me before…' She remembered back to the peach, sitting seductively in Hoggle's hand so long ago. He'd never stopped apologising… and in another flash she remembered the little pill that had been pushed into her hand, and the look of sorrow on the man's face. The way she'd swallowed it unquestioningly. No. No no no.

'Jareth… you did it again!' Her hand swept across the nearby table as she felt faint with shock and fell to the floor, sweeping off the beautiful array of food that had been set out there and sending it crashing the ground as she clutched at the white tablecloth.

'Sarah!' he cried as he struggled to help her up, ignoring the jolt he felt as his hand brushed against her skin. 'I wouldn't do that. Don't you think I've learnt from my mistakes? Don't you know I've spent years obsessing over what went wrong?' She stood up and he gripped her by the shoulders, staring into her eyes. He couldn't believe she was actually here. 'I don't make the same mistakes twice.'

'Well I'm here again, aren't I? For the second time.' She whispered it into his ear, before struggling from his grasp. Curled on the floor, she looked back him, seeing him for what he was at last. He was so different. He just looked so tired; as young as ever but somehow much older. His hair remained as large as before but (she chuckled to herself) looked much less maintained and flowed smoothly over his shoulders. She watched his eyes roam over her form almost guiltily before he looked away.

'Please. Just believe me. I would never do anything to hurt you. Not now. Not now I know that you can look after yourself… you have been doing all these years.' His eyelids fluttered shut momentarily; a shiver went down Sarah's spine.

'What do you mean "all these years"?' She crawled closer to where he knelt and cupped his chin with her hand, pushing it up and forcing him to look at her. 'Have… have you been waiting since then? For this?' She gestured to the ghostly dancers who continued to a waltz around them; as she stood up again, they moved away, never close enough that she could see their faces. The song continued playing.

' _Makes no sense at all… as the world falls down…'_

'Sarah,' Jareth muttered, 'my world fell down.' There was a moment of tense silence before the situation got to Sarah, and that harsh sound escaped her again, the laugh.

'Oh come on, Jareth!' she whispered, angrily. 'Have you had nothing else to do for the last 6 years? I have! You lost, you couldn't handle it. It's an obsession, nothing more. I've moved on. What do your little goblins think about you now?'

The Goblin King's face collapsed as a tear escaped down his cheek. 'I brought you here because I love you. I love you Sarah. Please believe me.'

'I can believe you think you love me.' She moved back towards him, grasping his hand. He shuddered as she pulled his other hand around her waist and started pulling him towards the crowd. He got the hint quickly, and his black gloves started to fade to white. Creamy fabric wrapped it's self around Sarah's legs as she moved, until she felt the weight of a ballgown settle on her hips. She shook her head and glitter fell past her eyes. She looked down at the elegant ball gown he had created. But no, she'd been here before, almost fallen for this. This was the dress she'd worn the last time she was in this ball room. She looked back to Jareth, expecting to see him in the same clothes he'd worn then. But to her shock he stood in a baggy white shirt and jeans, long hair falling in smooth waves. He looked good, handsome even; but it looked wrong, felt wrong.  _What's he trying to do here?_ She wondered. _Convince me he can cut it as a modern man?_

Jareth flinched slightly as Sarah's hand snaked up his arm to his shoulder and they fell into step together. 'Have you not got another song, Jareth?' she whispered, and immediately the song changed to another familiar tune.

' _How you turned my world, you precious thing_

_You starve and near exhaust me…'_

He whisked her round, leading her in a graceful but frantic waltz, twirling more and more around the room. The other couples stopped one by one, admiring their King and his partner, before they took up the dance again. Jareth's heart soared as a glimmer of hope returned. She was a very different woman to the one who ran his Labyrinth so long ago. More…distrustful. But he was to blame for that, he could fix it; he knew he could. He pulled her body closer into his as they spun again, enjoying the feeling of her body pressed against his own, of holding her close enough to feel her breath on his skin.

Sarah lifted her lips to his ear once more. 'You know this can't go on forever,' she whispered. 'You must realise that.' She stared into his eyes solemnly. He stopped moving but gripped her tighter, overcome with fear.

'Yes it can.' He muttered in reply. 'Come live with me at the castle. It will take mere seconds to prepare it for you. You have no commitments here, I've seen that much-' he paused, but the look of realisation on his partner's face told him it was too late.

'What?' she whispered accusingly, the words slipping out of her mouth like poison. 'When you've been doing what? Watching me?' They were still now, stationary as her shock overwhelmed her. 'How much have you seen?' She hadn't felt ashamed for a very long time, but she could feel a prickling blush creeping up the back of her neck. 'How much do you watch, Goblin King?' She could feel not only embarrassment but a deep-seated rage building in her. Not just that he'd been watching her, but that he had dared bring her back to this place. It was too different now.

'Don't you dare accuse me of anything immoral.' Sarah sensed the change in Jareth's mood immediately, as all the dancers became still; she looked around and they were all frozen in position, staring blankly at Sarah and their King. Jareth gripped her hand tighter, until she squirmed with the pain of it. She could see his old self returning, now things weren't going his way. 'I wanted to make sure you were happy. I guess this serves me right for investing my time in such a petty little child.'

'I'm not a petty child! You've been stalking me, Jareth, all these years...it's just so wrong... can't you see that? So I don't like the idea that you've been perving over me, I wouldn't say I was in the wrong there, would you? You have all this power to do anything you want, and I've been stuck here, and you just watch me. You watch me and do nothing when I actually wanted you!' She struggled to find the words. 'It's just…it's just… it's just not fair!'

A smile pulled at Jareth's mouth as he chuckled. '"It's not fair, it's not fair", this all seems awfully familiar.' He could feel his heart growing colder with the knowledge that his good intentions had been so willfully misconstrued. A silly girl from this world could never understand that what he did was best. 'I've been watching out for you, ready to protect you. Though it was obviously a mistake.' Frustration gripped him as he stood, unable to move.

'Jareth. Jareth, look at me.' He did as he was told, setting his face into the familiar haughty look he knew she would recognise. It hurt to be back to this dynamic again; him as the villain, her as the righteous hero. But Sarah's face had fallen into a look of sympathy he was unaccustomed to; and hope returned as she stepped closer to him, slipped her hand over his shoulders and brought her lips to his.

It was like time had stopped again – he pulled her tighter, feeling her fingers weave through his hair and pull him further into a slow kiss. His hands pulled her waist closer to his as he revelled in the feeling of her lips on his. Her hands stroked his neck, and it was with an almost physical pain that he felt her pull away.

'I'm so sorry Jareth.' He watched unable to move, his lips tingling, as she shook her head in remorse and headed towards the opposite side of the room, towards the glass walls. He watched as she glided through the frozen crowd, careful not to touch anything or put anything out of place. She stopped by the edge of the glass; it reflected her shape in a distorted and muted image. She looked around for something; but by the time Jareth realised what she was going to do it was too late to stop her. She grabbed at a nearby chair, tearing it clean of its silk cover, and turned to look directly at him. He watched in frozen anguish as she said simply: 'It's time to grow up now, Jareth.' And with a sweeping movement she swung the chair in an arc through the air and struck it against the glass wall.

Everything crumbled; and once again, Jareth's world fell down.


End file.
